Exploring the impact of COVID-19 on travel behavior based on EV charging big data

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many governments around the world to implement strict lockdown measures and order citizens to stay at home, which has caused a major change in travel patterns. This study leveraged electric vehicle charging big data in Hefei, Anhui Province, China to estimate electric vehicle charging demand in the absence of the COVID-19 pandemic using multi-layer perceptron model, which quantified the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we employed the vector autoregressive model to investigate the dynamic relationships between the changes in charging demand and various explanatory factors. The results suggest that the daily average charging demand in Hefei decreased by 78.3% compared to the predicted value during the pandemic. Furthermore, according to the variance decomposition and impulse response function analysis, national confirmed COVID-19 cases play a dominant role in reducing charging demand. The number of daily hospitalizations and Migration Scale Index also have significant and robust effect on the decrease in charging demand. The Air Quality Index and Baidu Index are susceptible to external factors and do not have a direct impact on the change in charging demand. Findings support a better understanding of changes in travel behavior during the pandemic and provide policy makers with references to deal with similar events. © 2021 IEEE

The Boosting Effect of Online Retailing on Household Consumption during Covid-19

The outbreak of Covid-19 has posed severe negative impact on household consumption. This paper investigates the boosting effect of online retailing on household consumption during the epidemic period. Based on the data of Anhui Province in China, this paper show that during the epidemic period, every 1% increase in the growth rate of online retail sales could increase the proportion of total retail sales of consumer goods above the quota in GDP by 4.27%. Therefore, we provide reliable empirical evidence of promoting consumer consumption through the development of online retail under the normalization of the epidemic situation. © 2021 ACM.

Investigation on cognitive level of covid-19 of medical staffs in Anhui province

Objective During the COVID-19 epidemic period, we investigated the cognitive level of COVID-19 knowledge of medical staffs in Anhui Province and analyzed the influencing factors of cognitive level of COVID-19 knowledge. Methods From February 12, 2020 to March 4, 2020, a self-made questionnaire was used to evaluate the knowledge of COVID-19 among medical staff in Anhui Province. A total of 15 342 valid questionnaires were obtained. By SPSS 17.0 statistical software, and descriptive analysis, t-test, ANOVA analysis, and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the cognitive level of COVID-19 knowledge of medical staffs and the influencing factors. Results The total score of COVID-19 knowledge of medical staffs in Anhui Province was (6.95±2.67) points, the average score of diagnosis knowledge was (2.58±1.74) points, the average score of treatment knowledge was (1.53±1.03) points, and the score of nosocomial infections knowledge was (2.84±1.01) points. There were significant differences in COVID-19 diagnosis knowledge, nosocomial infections knowledge and total score between doctors and nurses (all P < 0.05). Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that the scores in senior and intermediate professional title groups were higher than those in primary professional title group;the scores in master′s degree group and above and undergraduate education group were higher than those in junior college education group;the knowledge scores in municipal, county-level hospitals, primary medical institutions and private medical institutions were lower than those in provincial hospital group;the scores in patients aged 30~ years and ≥40 years were lower than those in group < 30 years. The scores in senior and intermediate professional title groups were higher than those in junior professional title group;the scores in municipal, county-level hospitals, primary medical institutions and private medical institutions were lower than those in provincial hospitals;the scores of 30~ years old and ≥40 years old were lower than those of < 30 years old group, and the scores of nurses with bachelor′s degree were higher than junior college degree or below (all P < 0.05). Conclusions The score of COVID-19 knowledge of medical staffs in Anhui Province is low, so we should train them COVID-19 knowledge systematically. We should pay attention to the influencing factors like occupation, title, education background, age and hospital rank when selecting and training anti-epidemic medical staffs. © 2021, Publication Centre of Anhui Medical University. All rights reserved.

Epidemiological and clinical features of 125 Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 in Fuyang, Anhui, China.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the epidemiological and clinical features of patients with COVID-19 in Anhui province of China. METHOD: In this descriptive study, we obtained epidemiological, demographic, manifestations, laboratory data and radiological findings of patients confirmed by real-time RT-PCR in the NO.2 People's Hospital of Fuyang City from Jan 20 to Feb 9, 2020. Clinical outcomes were followed up to Feb 18, 2020. RESULTS: Of 125 patients infected SARS-CoV-2, the mean age was 38.76 years (SD, 13.799) and 71(56.8%) were male. Common symptoms include fever [116 (92.8%)], cough [102(81.6%)], and shortness of breath [57(45.6%)]. Lymphocytopenia developed in 48(38.4%) patients. 100(80.0%) patients showed bilateral pneumonia, 26(20.8%) patients showed multiple mottling and ground-glass opacity. All patients were given antiviral therapy. 19(15.2%) patients were transferred to the intensive care unit. By February 18, 47(37.6%) patients were discharged and none of patients died. Among the discharged patients, the median time of length of stay was 14.8 days (SD 4.16). CONCLUSION: In this single-center, retrospective, descriptive study, fever is the most common symptom. Old age, chronic underlying diseases and smoking history may be risk factors to worse condition. Certain laboratory inspection may contribute to the judgment of the severity of illness.

Analysis on epidemic situation and spatiotemporal changes of COVID-19 in Anhui / 中华预防医学杂志

We used the epidemic data of COVID-19 published on the official website of the municipal health commission in Anhui province. We mapped the spatiotemporal changes of confirmed cases, fitted the epidemic situation by the population growth curve at different stages and took statistical description and analysis of the epidemic situation in Anhui province. It was found that the cumulative incidence of COVID-19 was 156/100 000 by February 18, 2020 and the trend of COVID-19 epidemic declined after February 7, changing from J curve to S curve. The actual number of new cases began to decrease from February 2 to February 4 due to the time of case report and actual onset delayed by 3 to 5 days.

Suboptimal health status of nurses in Wuhan, China during the COVID-19 outbreak

OBJECTIVE: This study analyzes the suboptimal health status (SHS) and influencing factors of nurses in Wuhan Hospital, China during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. METHODS: This study was conducted through an online survey, from March 1-7, 2020, in Wuhan, China. The data collection tools, such as Suboptimal Health Status Questionnaires, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and Chinese version of the Perceived Stress Scale, were used. RESULTS: The average value of suboptimal health status was 28.44 (standard deviation=15.15). The overall prevalence of SHS was 35.1%. Suboptimal health status of the nurses was significantly different based on their gender, age, whether they directly care for COVID-19 patients, anxiety level, and stress perception expect education. Multivariate analysis found that average sleep times per day, female, age, directly participate in the rescue of COVID-19, self-infection, and anxiety were the influencing factors of suboptimal health status. CONCLUSIONS: First-line nurses have poor suboptimal health status in Wuhan.